Making a simple phone call can increase business

Do you have a phone but rarely use it for phone calls? Are you constantly on your smartphone or iPhone checking emails, tweeting, scheduling your life, updating your status on Facebook, uploading your videos to Vine hoping to become the next viral star, posting photos on Instagram, connecting on LinkedIn or posting a fabulous recipe on Pinterest? Basically doing everything under the sun with your phone except making calls. In fact, there is a phobia called telephonophobia or telephobia, which is a fear of the phone and can cause a number of anxieties.

Now there is a new phobia called Nomophobia, which is the fear of not having contact with the mobile phone.

Before the age of email and text messaging, we had to rely on Alexander Graham Bell’s patented invention: THE TELEPHONE

Dialing a number and speaking to a person on the other end was the “norm” for doing business or making arrangements with friends and family.

So why do we use our phones for multiple purposes but rarely for a phone call? Do we find phone calls to be an invasion of our privacy? It seems like a lot of calls these days that are from telemarketers often read a script and don’t listen to what you have to say. An example of this is a personal experience: a telemarketer called early at night asking for my mother. He had informed the lady on the other end of the line that our mother had passed away a year ago and her response was “is there a better time to contact her?”

Have our language skills evolved or developed to send emails, text messages, voice mail, online chat, emoticons, and abbreviations to replace actual conversation?

Text: ?4U. do you want to have >(“””,)°> again 2nite? tmb l8r

Translation: I have a question for you. Do you want to eat fish again tonight? text me later

Text: :@ your game? Accept bfn TTYL

Translation: what? You leave. Ok, bye for now. I will talk with you later

If you’re afraid of being turned down or can’t remember why you were calling, write down the key points you want to talk about. If you just ramble, people can get impatient because you’re taking up their time. Get to the point of why you’re calling.

You can often learn more about the services your business has to offer by talking to someone on the phone rather than by email. Always take notes when you have a phone conversation. According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian’s 1967 study, body language accounts for 55 percent, tone of voice 38 percent, and spoken words 7 percent of effective communication. People like to talk to people they feel they can trust and are comfortable with, so a phone call with your voice on the other end can be just the right motivator to talk to a prospective business client.

You can summarize your phone call in an email to confirm the discussion points you had on the business call.

Don’t forget your phone tag:

Use your courteous manner on the phone and always identify yourself at the beginning of the call

Your tone of voice should sound friendly and confident.

Don’t try to multitask during a phone call

Be a good listener and let the other party do the talking

Speak clearly and enunciate

Show courtesy, even if your call is unsuccessful.